September 1 2011

6:20 PM

Will Phil Mickelson's next tournament round feature a
belly putter? We'll see Friday.

Cox/Getty Images

By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM

Just when you thought order was restored, at least for a week,
the belly putter craze comes right back to the forefront on the PGA
TOUR.

The streak of long putters winning on TOUR ended when Dustin
Johnson won The Barclays, the first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs
for the FedExCup, with a conventional Scotty Cameron Newport 2
Prototype putter.

But Thursday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Phil Mickelson
dipped his toes into the belly putter waters, putting an Odyssey
White Ice Sabertooth (check it out
here) into play in the pro-am.

At The Barclays last week, Mickelson said he wasn’t
against the long putter movement but also didn’t see it as a
quick fix to one’s putting woes, either. Getting putts
on-line and at the right speed is still work with any putter.

But still …
Phil?

“I might have to see it to believe it,” Scott said
Thursday at his Deutsche Bank press conference. “We’ll
see I guess. That’s the thing, it’s the fad at the
moment, so why not?”

GRAB BAG: When a fad hits the TOUR, here’s
an idea of
what it looks like on practice days on the
putting green.

BRIGHT IDEA: Adams Golf showed off a
new a12 hybrid at The Barclays for James
Driscoll. Unlike other hybrids, the clubhead has a channel in both
the sole and crown (“dual velocity slots,” Adams calls
them), which the company says allows a larger area of the face to
flex as the club and ball meet.